female representation. Where the hell is it?

Last year I spoke at the ‘Weird ’09 paranormal & ufo conference’ in Warminster, Wiltshire. I was the only female speaker and rather than making me feel powerful it made me feel a bit lonely and outnumbered.

This year the Weird ’10 conference has possibly 1 female speaker (representing ASSAP) and reflecting upon this fact recently made me wonder why it is. Paranormal research is a research field full of females and males – so why is it only a few women are ever seen speaking at conferences and why do we never see a predominantly female line up at such conferences?

I think that the issue of gender equality is an important one that is vastly overlooked. Okay so paranormal research doesn’t have feminism high on its equality focus list – instead they focus more on skeptics vs. believers equality which is fine, but where that’s important to have in equal amounts it is also important to ensure gender of speakers is equal or at least nearly equal too.

Like I mentioned before ghost research is a mixed bag of females and males, UFOlogy and cryptozoology can seem like a bit of a boy’s game (even though there are female researchers out there) so there is, in my view, no excuse for females to be lacking on the speaker line-ups for paranormal/ufo/crypto conferences.

One suggestion put forward to me is that these sorts of conferences are usually organised by men and therefor the speakers are men and that’s a poor excuse.

Another was that those females with something worth saying in the research field either:

a) don’t want the fame/bright lights

b) are too busy

Which is probably true and is a shame when you consider that the resentment of going public with something to say is causing the field to have a lack of female representation. Which is bullshit.

Hi Hayley,
I had a real struggle with this with Weird and I am entirely open (you know me anyway) to a equal mix of speakers for the weird conferences. And I do believe you are right concerning ASSAP.

I’m planning the speaker lists for Weird in 2011 and have 15-18 speaker slots to fill for next year. I make frequent requests for speakers both on the website and on emails/forums, but sadly, to date, all the responses have been from men.

Weird also does try to bring in lesser known names to the conference, but it is hard to judge sometimes. I don’t think W10 has achieved that goal this year to the level I would like.

I would love to break the mould and have an equal representation at Weird in 2011 and include those who are not so well known. If someone can help me and nominate a few speakers I would be more than happy to approach them and invite them to the conferences next year.

Hayley is a ghost

Hayley Stevens is an advocate for science-based research into seemingly paranormal experiences and occurrences. With a background in the pseudo-scientific research into ghosts, Hayley offers a unique insight into the strange world of ghost hunting through her experience.

She describes herself as 'a ghost hunter who doesn't hunt for ghosts' and this is her personal blog where she writes about ghosts, people, and other interesting things. Read more here.